I wanted to start taking time to be intentional about noticing all the awesome things in my life. My goal is to post about 5 vibrant badass things/moments/experiences each week. There also might be some themed Vibrant Badass lists coming as well so be on the lookout for those. Here we go!

Brunch at Heritage Tavern – Brian and I celebrated our one year engagement-iversary last weekend and we had both Saturday and Sunday off together. One of our favorite restaurants in Madison is Heritage Tavern but we had never tried their brunch. We love how they use local ingredients including pork from the owner’s farm. Everything that we ate was incredible. The bacon was probably the most perfectly cooked bacon I have ever had.

Frozen Lake Mendota – This is our first midwest winter ever! We are amazed at how beautiful the frozen lake is. There were people out there ice fishing and some people were using kites to windsurf around the lake. We were at The Edgewater hotel and there is a dock that goes out onto the water. At the end there is a little ladder to climb into the water/on the ice in the winter. It was so fun to run out there to take the picture at the top of this post. Brian and I also got some strangers to take the picture below after snapping on of them.

Pizza and LOTR – We couldn’t go the full weekend of celebrating our anniversary without pizza!! We ordered Domino’s delivery and watched the Lord of the Rings on the couch. It was the Fellowship of the Ring if you want specifics. This combo of cheesy bread and the square cut handmade pan pizza has been our favorite lately. Of course, lots of garlic and marinara sauce as well for dipping.

Date night at home – Yesterday Brian was off and he made dinner for us! We grilled steak on the rooftop of our building in the cold and it was cooked perfectly! Brian also grilled some zucchini and squash and made sweet potato fries. The steak was def my fave but the whole meal was delicious. He is so good at cooking so I love whenever he has the time to do it!

The Gifts of Imperfection – I just finished this book for the second time and met up with some friends for a book club discussion earlier this week. In the book Brene Brown talks about guideposts for living a wholehearted life. I think I am going to try to read it every year. It’s crazy how the same information can hit you differently at various points in your life. Last year I read this book for a book club in Nashville and it was right around the time that we first got the news about our opportunity to move to Wisconsin and had not made a decision yet. This year I’m in a new city and at a very different place than I was. All the information is still very valid but it’s funny how some of it sticks out more. One of my favorite quotes in the book is by theologian Howard Thurman and it says “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” This blog is part of me trying to do just that! I want to spread positivity and adventure into the lives of people around me. This book is great and a pretty quick read – I highly recommend.

That’s my 5 for this week! Stay on the lookout for more blogs like this. I’m going to try to be more consistent about posting fun positive things. Because the world is full of negativity and can always use some more good vibes.

Cheers!